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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852066">NWFaDtS Outtakes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthernContinentSkies/pseuds/SouthernContinentSkies'>SouthernContinentSkies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>When a Good Man Goes to War [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Unfinished, Writing Process, discussion of abuse of power, discussion of violence against women, fragments, if you read NWFaTdS it's that level of description or less, work no longer in progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:01:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,507</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852066</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthernContinentSkies/pseuds/SouthernContinentSkies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Here lie the fragments of additions to this series that will not likely ever be completed. Everything is in the very early draft stage, with snippets of actual text interspersed with summaries of planned sections and other author's notes. Chapter 1 is a selection of hypothetical epilogues to the main fic, while Chapter 2 is the skeleton of a rewrite of Night Will Fall from Gregor's POV. Chapter 3 is Duv Galeni's view of events.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>When a Good Man Goes to War [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Night Will Fall Epilogues</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>On formatting: most of this is taken verbatim from my drafts folder, with only mild-to-moderate cleanup. Apologies for any incoherence. [Things in brackets] are either author's notes/commentary or placeholders, and would not have appeared word-for-word in any final version. </p><p>Also, please note the tags; this is an abandoned draft, not a WIP. I'm posting this precisely because it will almost certainly not be finished, but I actually like seeing fragments/drafts from other people, because hey, it's more story! So I figured there might be a few who enjoy these fragments as well.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>[postlude with Olivia]</p><p>“I told you Gregor wouldn’t rush to war,” said Olivia, somewhat frostily.</p><p>“He threw a gauntlet at the Counts’ feet,” said Dono incredulously. “I hope they take it and shut up about it, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a de-escalation.”</p><p>“But it will be their war, and not his,” said Olivia, intently. “And if he hadn’t done this, he would be - how did you put it? - first against the wall with all the Counts, in the end. There is no way that Gregor Vorbarra brought the Imperium to the brink of war to satisfy some personal crusade. I know I brought up that possibility initially, but the more I think about it, the more I don’t believe it. He dwells in probabilities - which road is worst, and how can he avoid it? If he picked a fight with the Counts, it was to avoid a fight with the proles. The first might tear apart the capital - but the second would destroy the Imperium.”</p><p>Dono pondered this despite himself.</p>
<hr/><p>[second postlude with Sylvia’s Tech Cousin, who opposes an anti-Vor protester with the story of how he went to the Emperor about his cousin and the man who hurt her is no longer a Count.] [this would be a teaser for Demons Run, But at What Cost - the Gregor POV version]</p><p>These protestors had not come out of nowhere; obviously Gregor had been motivated by more than sympathy for the woman.</p><p>[More descriptions of the protestors, and Dono's ruminations on the actual scope of the political problems here, which he had clearly underestimated during the body of the fic due to his focus on the Council (aka, Olivia had the right idea). “Fuck the Vor, but keep the Emperor”? Dono remembers the Ministry of Political Education, and is like, once again, I’m not playing chess with Gregor.] </p><p>It was certainly one way to be remembered by the history books, though <em>which</em> way, precisely, remained to be seen. “Gregor Vorbarra, Imperial Master of the Counter-Revolution”? “Gregor the Just”? Dono wished them joy of it. For the first time, he was glad to be old. The power Gregor had grabbed for the campstool might die with him, but on the other hand, it might not. He trusted Gregor not to go overboard - mostly - but the Crown Prince wouldn’t have decades of careful rule under his belt when it eventually passed down to him. Dono sighed at the news broadcasts. If he were lucky, he might die before this became his problem. Perhaps Count Aral the Younger could fulfill the traditional Vorkosigan function of sorting it out himself.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Demons Run, But at What Cost</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <em>...the battle’s won, but the child is lost.</em>
</p>
<p>Gregor's POV of Night Will Fall, or at least the skeleton draft version of it.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Again, [things in brackets] are author's notes/commentary or placeholders. Everything else is draft text. Almost certainly not finishing this; using Gregor's POV doesn't give the same "oh no, what is happening" suspense vibe that I was going for with the original. I mainly wrote these pieces of it to keep Gregor's side of events and characterization straight in my own head.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>[Summary:]</p>
<p>[I generally write summaries at some point in the middle of writing the fic itself] </p>
<p>Given the choice between stability and justice, which one does Gregor pick? At 25, without [enough balls], he would have chosen stability. At 60, he has forty years of experience and political capital, and the weight of responsibility lies heavy on him. He cannot, in all honor, start a war to soothe his conscience; he cannot, in good conscience, ignore the suffering of his liegemen, or liegewomen, even if it means war.</p>
<p>His first stop will be the Council. But if the Counts have lost their honor beneath their greed, the Emperor will have to find it for them elsewhere.</p>
<p>Remix of Night Will Fall and Drown the Sun: Gregor’s POV</p>
<hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter 1 (or 0); Gregor hears about the Sylvia from her cousin the tech, at the oath-swearing]</p>
<p>[Gregor and Allegre, who are dealing with separate political issues (or are they??) get ImpSec to investigate the tech, in case he has some political reason to make this up. ImpSec finds no such reason, except a connection with, oops, radical democratists in Vorcaron’s District - but they appear to be motivated mainly by Vorcaron being awful and no supervision or justice being, ah, Vorthcoming. Gregor Is Not Pleased. Also, ImpSec, ffs, how did you not know about this before? “We did, but the radicals aren’t very well armed or organized, so they’re not really a threat, so we didn’t consider them a priority.” *facepalm* Allegre demotes people; “Your insight into what constitutes a danger to the Emperor is woefully misguided.” Ideas more dangerous than weapons, what constitutes an existential threat to a government, etc.]</p>
<p>[Gregor has Thoughts about power and politics. Ezar's Grandson But With Morals.]</p>
<p>The ghost of his grandfather was increasingly understandable to him, as he aged. As a younger man, he had been eager to [use all that alleged Imperial power to Do Reforms]. By now, however, Gregor knew that at this altitude, that sort of control was merely a beguiling fiction. From 30,000 feet up, one needed exceptionally long arms to effect any change on the ground, and any air-to-surface strikes must have their trajectories carefully calculated.</p><hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter ??? - This whole section is from an earlier version of NWF where the timing of the Sylvia's cousin The Tech talking to Gregor was much later. It's not compatible with NWF as actually posted, and would have been majorly revised and probably cut entirely if I had actually written this whole thing.]</p>
<p>[ImpSec has trouble finding the woman, so they pick up the tech cousin up instead, and interrogates him - except, Gregor tells them not to use fast-penta, so it’s a very frustrating chat. Until it gets so frustrating that the ImpSec officer moves to strike the tech, and Gregor, who has been watching in real time, toggles the comm on and intervenes. Then he goes in to chat himself.]</p>
<p>[the tech demands, again, that The Emperor Do Something]</p>
<p>“An interesting problem, to be sure,” said Gregor, sitting without movement in the chair. “If I hold your oaths as though directly, then I am bound to see to your protection. If Count Vorcaron holds your oaths entire, then he is thereby bound - and, apparently, thereby forsworn.”</p>
<p>Never had such a small room, with so many people ostensibly breathing within it, been so utterly silent.</p>
<p>As usual, the tech spoke first.</p>
<p>“I don’t give two shits about the Count, Sire, but he’s never done anything for anyone other than himself. If that’s the Vor, then fuck ‘em. And,” he added, with the follow-on bravado of momentum, “Fuck you, too.”</p>
<p>The ImpSec sergeant holding up the wall sucked in a breath. Gregor did not. This sort of posturing was always more informative than threatening. A man insulting the Emperor in the middle of an ImpSec interrogation room was either very brave, very radical, or very fed-up - or, even more likely in this situation, some inflammable combination of all three.</p>
<p>[Gregor engages with The Tech calmly, which doesn't mollify The Tech at all. Exchange about what happened to Sylvia. The first version of NWFaDtS had me forgetting that organ regrowth tech exists, which made the whole thing much more bleak; the conversation here would have focused on that aspect of things. E.g., “And part of the injury is that now she can’t have children” vs “It’ll be fine, the Betan technologies only need one cell” vs “wtf we can’t afford that shit,” as a gloss on the problems with implementing a healthcare system with a huge jump in technology across a country with widely varying levels of resources and governmental give-a-damn.]</p>
<p>“Your cousin will have children, if she desires.” The Emperor’s face was [metaphor]. “My word as Vorbarra.”</p>
<p>[This ends the "would have to be completely rewritten" section.]</p><hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter 1ish]</p>
<p>[Gregor sends an armsman to go check on the cousin; she is indeed in the hospital The Tech mentioned, and she’s recovering from a callously indifferent total hysterectomy (or whatever version also removes ovaries). She apparently was Vorcaron’s “mistress,” and then she got pregnant and refused to abort. Her father, who unwisely tried to complain to Vorcaron, is now in the District prison for Reasons, and her cousin, the tech, fled the District with her, thinking they’d be safe enough in Vorbarr Sultana - he had a friend who could (and did) get him a job at the company doing tech work for Vorhartung. Allegre demotes more people - how did they miss that a new hire at such an important contractor had ties to radicals??] </p>
<p>“...because he had an old friend from his village who could get him a job as a tech at Vorhartung.”</p>
<p>“What?” said Allegre, appalled. “An avowed radical democratist has been <em>running wiring</em> at Vorhartung Castle?” His subsequent furious scribbling boded very ill for his subordinates in Domestic Affairs.</p>
<p>“There’s no indication that he’s been doing anything with the job beyond paying his cousin’s medical bills.”</p>
<p>“Not <em>him</em>,” said Allegre. “The friend. We’ve been trying to find out who their contact in the capital is for months, <em>apparently</em>.” He trailed off into disgusted <em>sotto voce</em> muttering.</p>
<p>[At some point in here, an exchange with Laisa about All This, and what Gregor can and can’t do about it, and how frustrating and infuriating it all is. Probably a side note about how he generally finds Barrayar’s easy resort to capital punishment appalling, but not in this particular case. Discussion of Kareen. Gregor is doing his Diplomatic Mask face hard enough to hurt, but Laisa sees through it. ]</p>
<p>“You look angry, Gregor.” </p>
<p>“Do I?”</p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>“I will not preside over a body that finds this acceptable,” said Gregor, [adj]. “I will <em>not</em>.” </p>
<p>“And if the Counts won’t cooperate?” </p>
<p>“Then I will [find. better. Counts.]”</p>
<p>[Laisa is Concerned. I never figured out the exact contours of her emotional response, though; obviously she’s horrified at Vorcaron’s actions, but from her outside-ish perspective it just sort of gets shoved into Barrayar Is Bad For Women, An Anthology. Like, this is not news to her, and she married into the whole mess anyway. Also, a civil war, beyond the general harm and danger, would put her own children and grandchildren directly at risk, so it’s complicated. There’s some potential for Gregor/Laisa as a mirror for Olivia/Dono here, because between Gregor and Laisa, Laisa is potentially the more sheltered one, in terms of exposure to actual violence and risk thereof. Yeah, the Revolt, but the Toscanes and their friends weren’t out there getting teargassed; they were much more likely the ones sealed into their generator-powered penthouses shaking their heads over “riots.” And based on her canon behavior in Memory, I don’t think she was dealing with anti-Komarran prejudice on Barrayar itself long enough for the shine to wear off.]</p><hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter 2 or so - talking to Aral Alexander about the Vorcaron situation, at one of their regular meetings]</p>
<p>[Aral Alexander and Gregor have regular meetings, now that Miles is dead; Gregor returning the favor of mentorship to Aral’s namesake. Gregor finds him much easier to deal with than Miles, because he’s more even-tempered and less, uh, insane, but he feels guilty about that, because it sort of implies that he thinks he’s traded up, which isn’t remotely the case, because Miles is irreplaceable, but… still. He had loved Miles, but he liked Aral Alexander more.]</p>
<p>“I’m not speaking to my cousin Sasha, at the moment,” said Gregor, pensively. “I’m speaking to Count Vorkosigan, if I can.”</p>
<p>Aral straightened in his chair. “Sire,” he said. “Of course.”</p>
<p>Gregor paused again, sighed. “This may not be a fair question to ask you,” he said. “You know the Counts well for someone of your… seniority, but it may not be well enough.”</p>
<p>Aral nodded, unsure but listening. </p>
<p>“How many votes do you think you, or someone, could get,” said Gregor, slowly, “to indict a sitting Count for coercive reproductive interference?”</p>
<p>Aral looked uneasy. “I… it depends on whose relative it was. The woman, I mean. Unfortunately.”</p>
<p>“And for a prole?”</p>
<p>“Oh,” said Aral, with feeling. “Er… ten?” he ventured, and then sighed. “Eight that I would be fairly confident of,” he said, with more certainty, “and then another… six, maybe, that could probably be persuaded. Anything beyond that would be difficult, I’m afraid. Most of them won’t want to vote to convict a Count of anything other treason, I think, without a specific political reason.”</p>
<p>“Who are the eight?” asked Gregor. “Out of morbid curiosity.”</p>
<p>Aral gave him a mildly reproachful look. “Well, me, first of all,” he said. “Dono Vorrutyer, certainly. Vorvolk might be secretly unhappy about Imperial overreach, but he’d vote for a turnip if you told him to -” </p>
<p>Gregor sighed. </p>
<p>“- Vortala had that thing with his cousin and Lord Vorkalloner, so he’d be an easy one,” Aral continued. “Vorinnis. Most of the southern Counts would sooner sit on a cactus… oh, Rene Vorbretten. Er… Vordarian and Vordrozda, if they knew you were serious about it. And probably Vorlightly and [name, to emphasize it's not Falco] Vorpatril. And that’s ten, give or take one or two.”</p>
<p>“Not [name, ditto] Vorhalas?”</p>
<p>Aral winced. “He… isn’t inclined to convict anyone of anything.”</p>
<p>Gregor’s lips thinned in frustration.</p>
<p>“Well, oh, and you. So… eleven.”</p>
<p>“If I have to vote myself, it defeats the purpose,” said Gregor, with more feeling than he’d intended.</p>
<p>Aral looked at him sharply. “This isn’t a hypothetical, is it?”</p><hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter ?? - Interlude for a section on the Select Committee on Standardization, which has been meeting for awhile now; its real purpose is overhauling the justice system, especially re: equal treatment under law for proles. Hence the name; standardization of justice. Galeni is there for his doctorate, and his perspective on lessons to draw from non-Barrayaran systems. Possibly just a description; possibly an actual scene of a meeting - the meeting, where they discuss Vorcaron and which of their plans they might possibly be able to salvage if they have to move immediately?]</p><hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter 4; Gregor strategizes, and Dono wants a meeting]</p>
<p>Gregor sighed, and looked up from the screen. His secretary was standing by the door, in the posture that indicated he had something to say.</p>
<p>“Yes, Ross?”</p>
<p>“Sire, Count Vorrutyer has requested an audience.”</p>
<p>Gregor straightened. “Has he? Did he say why?”</p>
<p>Ross made a show of consulting his notes, though they both knew perfectly well he would have the quote memorized. “He wishes to discuss ‘the upcoming vote on that unfortunate matter,’ sire.”</p>
<p>“Hmm.” Gregor narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully. Dono was no fool, but he hadn’t thought their preparations would be so obvious yet. On the other hand, Countess Vorrutyer had visited Miss Kurnetsov in her hospital room several times now, and Olivia did have occasion to know him better than most, if primarily second-hand. </p>
<p>Or perhaps this was merely a fishing expedition.</p>
<p>That thought decided him. If any of the Counts were in a position to start trawling the Residence for more information, he needed to know how far along they had advanced in their conclusions. Count Vorrutyer himself was likely to vote where they wanted him, but it wouldn’t do to be caught off guard. A mere majority in opposition was surmountable; an overwhelming force would be more problematic. Lord Auditor Galeni had estimated that a critical mass of twenty remaining Counts, give or take, would be necessary to provide a stable transition. Any fewer, and they risked undermining the institution permanently. As a purely personal matter, Gregor wasn’t averse to that, but each additional source of instability increased the chance of outright war. </p>
<p>[Gregor talks to Dono - realizes Dono is afraid Gregor is going to start a war himself if the Counts don’t convict Vorcaron - decides to let Dono think that, because if they can add the group of Counts Convinced By Fear to the group of Counts Convinced By Moral Outrage, they might end up with more than the Residence-forecasted 12, which is really not enough, even for their purposes.]</p><hr/>
<p>[NWF Chapter 5; The Trial, from the Dais. feat. Ruminations on Justice and Power and Whatnot. Gregor is also ambivalent about what he's doing - he knows it might end badly later - but what else can he do?]</p>
<p>[I never wrote any text for this because it felt like it needed Super Serious Declarations on Super Serious Topics, and I frankly felt tapped out on that sort of thing after the main fic.]</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Zeal of the Convert</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lord Auditor Duv Galeni's views on the events of NWFaDtS. There are two versions, because I could not for the life of me decide what his views would <em>be</em>. I lean towards Version 1, but I do think that Dr. Angry Historian could certainly go for Version 2 as well.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Again, not finished, probably won't be. [Brackets] are notes/commentary or placeholders, everything else is draft text.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h4>Version 1</h4>
<p>[This is a disjointed mess of metaphor that needed WAY more structure and through-line before I could actually finish it. Any repetition is because I couldn't figure out where or precisely how I wanted to express a concept.]</p>
<p>If it were going to be feudalism, let it be <em>feudalism</em>, with the [pomp] and the [circumstance] and the glittering tinsel, and the joy of [finding your place and <em>fitting</em> there,] of playing one perfect note in a three-planet orchestra, the music so beautiful you forgot you could never conduct. [He wanted the Imperium to embody] actual goddamn bonds of loyalty and standards of honor - not some plaster kleptocracy haphazardly papered over in ersatz gold leaf. He knew, from research and scholarship and painful personal experience, how seldom “the honor of the Vor” was anything other than gold leaf on crumbling plaster - but he had also met Miles Vorkosigan, and seen what it could look like when “true Vor” meant anything other than propaganda.</p>
<p>Men did not often approach the angels of their better natures without the nudge of consequences, and men with power never did. If Duv could write even a fraction of his chosen values into existence, no matter how futilely, he would grab the pen with both hands and try.</p>
<p>Duv had told himself, when he had filled out his Academy applications so long ago, that he was doing this for Komarr. He was, then and still, but that intention had been overtaken. He had set out to be Esther, but somewhere along the way (in Vorkosigan’s Academy seminar? In a basement cell with his son? In a groat circle with Delia, shining with laughter and the sun on her hair?) he had fallen in love with the king. He would do </p>
<p>“The Imperium exists within its people” - so the opening sentence of his first thesis draft had said. His advisor had told him not to be a treasonous fool.</p>
<p>“Every year we go without an arrest is one we can use to keep the lights on tomorrow, Duv,” she had said. “Grant applications get a lot messier if your points of contact are in prison. Try again.”</p>
<p>But now Duv is writing the syllabus, writing the subject matter. Someone else will write the papers, later, about his history; today, his words are in the Emperor’s mouth. He will create the Imperium anew, with his blood in his veins and his soul on his breath; the heir of the Galens defining the vassals of the Vorbarras, now and forever.</p>
<p>Be strong, he wills the Lords Imperial of the future: stand against the tyranny that you inherit, and the tyranny you will breed in your own House. Be kind: grant your subordinates their shares of your victory, and reward their loyalty as they will deserve. Be brave: forge a new world for your descendants, and ours, and theirs, that someday they will forget the difference, and remember only each other.</p>
<p>If I tell a new story every night for one thousand nights, Duv thinks, I cannot create the Imperium entire. But I can start.</p>
<p>I did not come all this way, Duv thinks, to worship at an idol. So if this is to be my shining crown of thought, let it be true, let it be real, and <em>let it be glorious.</em></p>
<p>When he hands the speech to Ross, he calms his galloping nerves by remembering his other copies; in [hidden places and on Komarr]. If this seed cannot sprout today, perhaps someone else, at least, will plant it later.</p>
<p>It was a prayer, he realized, to men who did not exist, and gods who had not yet been born. It was a fantasy of feudalism from a Senator’s nephew. But it was what he had: and so with every heartbeat, and every breath, he would make sure it was enough.</p>
<p>Let’s see what happens.</p><hr/>
<h4>Version 2</h4>
<p>[Summary:]</p>
<p>This is not what Duv wanted, but it’s what he has.</p>
<p>He’s read [history]; he knows how this ends.</p><hr/>
<p>Miles Vorkosigan had once told Duv that when the cream of Vorbarr Sultana society had congratulated his father on his success at Komarr, Admiral Vorkosigan had done everything but spit in their faces. Duv hadn’t believed him.</p>
<p>He believes it now.</p>
<p>Even as a Lord Auditor, however, Duv does not have quite the social capital to get away with that sort of behavior at the Residence. Instead, he [skulked around the edges of the somewhat forced celebrations in the ballroom and drank more than he should].</p>
<p>Two years. Two years of meetings, research, options memos, debating admirals and underministers until all of them were hoarse. Two years in which the Emperor of Barrayar had listened, really listened, to other, better ways of governing. Two years of hope. </p>
<p>And that fucking ass Vorcaron had [destroyed] it all by accident, with one poorly-timed fit of violent ego.</p>
<p>Duv could scream.</p>
<p>Instead, he [brooded into his wine glass and had Further Thoughts].</p>
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